2009 NHL Winter Classic

NHL 09 Top 10

He shoots, he scores! Some good camera work here. Nice save too!

FIFA 09 Top 10

Goodby Trevor, Hello Mats

Originally posted here: EA SPORTSWORLD

Depending on who you ask, all I can say is that hockey is alive in Vancouver and that the second coming may as well have been confirmed with the arrival of Mats Sundin to Vancouver. A poll among Vancouverites will tell you that the Canucks are now legitimately among the top teams that will be in the hunt come playoff time, while our good friends in the epicenter of Canada, TO may seem to be less faithful that their former saviour will add as big a difference as the west-coasters feel he may. Oh, let the east-west bickering begin.

When I first heard of the rumours and the offer last summer that went out for Sundin ($20MM over 2 years), I was reminded of one of my favourite commercials with the Habs goalie riding a lawn mower aggressively shredding the maple leafs on his lawn. His hatred for Sundin coming out with each turn as he made another pass and another quip in his strong French-Canadian accent about Mats and how he should've never scored the way he did in games past. As much as I tended to shake my fist at Mats as well, in the back of my mind I always thought that if he ever came to Vancouver he could easily become one of those players that you dispised on the other team, yet would absolutely love to have on your own.

I even heard during that time that he was enjoying his time playing poker and just figuring out whether or not hockey was still something that he wanted to do. Who could blame him? Tough years not winning a Cup in Toronto and I'd think I'd have a better chance of winning the WSOP than Lord's Stanley as a Maple Leaf. Though I never put much thought to it even with such a big offer on the table. As a Canucks fan I've seen the best players pass up on this city *cough* Wayne *cough*.

Even last week when talk resurfaced after Mats supposedly felt like he wanted to play hockey again that he had narrowed his choice down to two teams, New York Rangers or the Canucks, I still didn't get my hopes up. It was all too familiar.

And then what seemed to be the possible came true. GM Mike Gillis signed Mats Sundin to a one-year contract to the Vancouver Canucks bringing the most sought after UFA to the west coast turning down an offer to play in NY with fellow Swede Markus Naslund and a pretty competitive NY team. Instead, Mats will team up with not one, but three fellow countryman he won gold medals with in the 2006 Olympics in Turin. He's also reunited with former Leaf Kyle Wellwood who's been on a pretty hot streak as of late. When you add the fact that he also agreed to less money (just over $8MM pro rated to $6MM) than originally offered to allow the Canucks room in the cap to still make a move near the trade deadline, it's hard not to look at this deal as something that's nothing more than a dream come true.

This guy is a team player and without taking anything away from Roberto Luongo, you've got to figure that Mats will make quite the impact instantly with his new team on and off the ice. At one point it's even been reported that Bobby Lou himself reached out to Mats during the talks with hopes of bringing the natural leader and powerful forward to Vancouver.

The Canucks are one of the best teams right now and with their team game and what seems to be a management team that's not only living up but exceeding expectation, the addition of Mats can really only be seen as a total positive. The way the team has responded with their captain out of the lineup has been huge. Fans can only drool at the prospect of a healthy Luongo playing at his best, while Sundin leads a line with Wellwood and perhaps Burrows, and at the same time, ogle at the Sedins who continue to quietly add goals and assists in a very worklike fashion.

With people still wiping their tears watching Trevor Linden's #16 be raised to the rafters, it's no surprise that the same box of Kleenex is being used by those same fans as one of today's best players fits his way into a new jersey of blue.

Manny Pacquiao - The BEST Boxer in the World!

Photos courtesy of Wally Skalij of the New York Times: Pacquiao Forces De La Hoya to Quit

Manny Pacquiao should be on the cover of Fight Night Round 4. He just dethrowned the former cover athlete with speed and precision making it look rather easy.



Leading with the left cross early, Manny’s speed was too much for Oscar who was out of his league in this fight. By the time Manny felt Oscar ate enough lead lefts, he beat the snot out of him with his hooks and jabs and just out boxed him with deadly and precise combinations. It was almost too tough to watch near the end. Manny was just doing his best to put on a good battle after the fans were treated to some pretty terrible opening fights, all featured bouts lasting no more than 5 rounds between 3 of them.

From the start you could tell that Oscar was having trouble with Manny's speed. Coming forward, Oscar found himself on the receiving end of many straight lefts followed by right hooks that he had very few answers for.

By the sixth round Manny's combination punches were too much for the veteran who's left eye could barely be seen underneath the now sizable bruise. It began to look at this point like Manny could put an end to this fight at any time.

After another dominant round in the seventh, Oscar seemed to just be unresponsive to the continued onslaught of punches coming in his direction from every angle. Numerous times, Manny had the former 10-time World Champion on the ropes only to back off and safely execute trainer Freddy Roach's plan of skilled execution over 8-9 rounds.

As the ten second mark was called Pacquiao unloaded a flurry of punches that connected upon Oscar in the corner putting an exclamation point on an already masterful evening of boxing. At the end of the round, everyone in the MGM Grand Arena, where 7 years ago these fighters both successfully fought in same ring 7 weight classes apart, witnessed two fighters going in opposite directions.

When Oscar's trainer told him that Manny was just too fast, it was enough to keep him from standing to answer the ninth round bell. He would only get up to congratulate Manny already celebrating and graciously thanking the fans, everyone around him, and God for the victory!

Wide-right

I've been a Buffalo Bills fan since the early 1990's. Back when I played high school football my buddies and I used to love watching Jim Kelly execute his K-Gun offense to perfection opening up the game like it's never been open lighting up tired defenses en route to some magnificent performances. Jim Kelly, Thurman Thomas, Andre Reed, James Lofton, and of course, Bruce Smith were the players I enjoyed watching and emulating on the field. I even played with the Bills on the SEGA when we played Madden.

My buddy David, who I ended up coaching high school ball with just a few years ago, was an extreme fan. His room was covered with Bills gear from pennants to jerseys and cards and caps. When Buffalo went up against the Giants in Super Bowl 25 it was a wide-right field goal by Scott Norwood that cost them the first of 4 consecutive Super Bowl losses. Yes, it still hurts to think about it. Both Dave and I went through mini-depressions during those February's that followed those losses. I'm tellin you, I grew some thick skin from being a Bills fan then.

So when the year began as well as it did with some big wins over non-division teams there was a lot of talk that hasn't been heard in Buffalo for a few years. Edwards was looking confident at QB and the team's defense looked pretty strong. And then a big hit put the starting QB out for a couple of games and some sure wins on a fairly easier than average schedule turned into 4 losses in a row including the last one against the Cleveland Browns.

The return of Edwards brought about some confidence though the Monday Night Football game against the Browns brought about a last minute field goal for the win that just had Super Bowl 25 written all over it. Last second shot to win the game. Just over 45 yards. Even the MNF announcers referred to it, and by the look of crowd pans prior to the kick, the whole stadium was thinking it like it was yesterday Norwood kicked it wide-right.

The snap, the hold, the kick. Wide-right.

A big win a week later. And then a disappointing loss this past weekend. The big stat from this past loss to San Francisco wasn't just the zero touchdowns, but the 1/3 kicking by Lindell who seems to be off his game since that Monday night. Though he's hit a large number of consecutive extra points, he's been cold lately even missing a field goal that would've been shorter than an extra point, hooking it twice off the left upright.

Maybe I'm just venting. Maybe I'm hoping putting this out there will change things and the Bills will make a run starting with a big statement in TO against the Jets this weekend. I'll be crossing my fingers hoping for a blowout...keep the kicking game out of it for now. At least the game will be indoors.